The "what next?" conundrum.

[rabler]

Maybe I should post this as a poll. Do it "This Old Tony" style where he shows poll results and then blatantly goes on to do what he wants

I'm very fortunate to have lots of machine toys. When we retired we significantly downsized houses, and I've decided this is my retirement hobby. Of course we still have horses, several remodeling projects on the to-do list, and plenty of farm upkeep. (Fences, always fences. And those trees that keep falling over. and ...)

The crux of the conundrum is that I've put in a deposit on building a new shop. 40x56x12. I have all sorts of exciting plans for what I'll do once that shop is done. I'm paying a local Amish crew to frame up the shop and roof it. They'll tentatively start early January. Once they finish, I'll have my hands full with electrical, insulating, finishing out the interior, etc. First critical step will be to wait the month for the concrete to set up before sealing it. Then I'll need to put the interior ceiling in. Then I can move in machines even if the shop is unfinished. I have several machines that exceed my tractors ability to lift (about 3300 lbs), so moving will involve renting a large off-road forklift. While I can and have put those machines on skates, moving them around much is not a good option. Anyway, that will be a while.

So I need to decide what to do between now and January for machine shop projects. Some options:

• I bought a motor and VFD to build a 2x72 belt sander/grinder. Have some pretty good ideas on how to go forward on that.
• The 612 lathe needs the cross slide to be dismantled and cleaned. It is tough to turn, doesn't seem to be the gibs. I suspect just old grease/oil. Eventually like to put a DRO on this machine, but that'll have to wait until after the new shop expenses settle out.
• The CK lathe really needs the carriage to be re-fitted. Rulon/Turcite/Mogliced. I won't go to the extent of having the bed ground. The tailstock also needs to be rebuilt, it is badly galled and loose. Both the tailstock and carriage have been thoroughly dissassembled and cleaned, lube system rebuilt, etc, but scraping and precision boring are new skills that I'll need to attempt. I won't get them perfect, or even good on the first pass. Just shooting for a lot better than now. Which is a pretty low standard. I also want to add a tach/RPM display, and a VFD reverse option, both fairly simple. Of course this is my working, goto lathe. So probably should get the 612 done first even if it is in the other (much less convenient) shop.
• The 10EE lathe is quite a mess. That will be a bed regrind. And some major work on the DC motor. Or a VFD and large induction motor. This one is a long term project. I need to have at least one working lathe, but this one isn't coming online soon.
• The Thompson surface grinder is a whole project in itself that hasn't been touched. I'll need to dig into it in a major way. I don't have any surface grinder capability so getting this functional would be a good step. But it is also 3 phase, so basically needs the new shop. My current shop doesn't have 3 phase. I have and RPC over at the barns, which is where the 3 phase equipment lives for now, until the new shop gets set up.
• The K&T mill is kind of in the same 3 phase limbo. But it runs well. And is just fun. Ultimately it'll get used to mill out the CK carriage before treating that.
• I do have a 16" machinists level casting that I need to mill and scrape in. That would probably be a good start before tackling the CK carriage. Just need to figure out how best to fixture it up for milling.
• The Grizzly knee mill has a bad power feed, this just needs to go on the chore list.

Dang it, I just want the new shop done to get everything organized in, then get on with having fun!
Thanks for listening while I sort out my plans ...

 

[matthewsx]

Well, I'd say do the 10EE.

But, since they haven't started framing yet why not go up to 16'?

I built a 40' x 60' pole barn and had the side walls done to 16' so if I ever wanted to park a semi-trailer inside I could.

JMHO,

John

 

[graham-xrf]

@rabler :
I am way impressed, and a bit envious - especially that you have a surface grinder to play with and restore. I am backed onto a farm, and I have yet to put in a ranch-style fence, the kind with a couple of treated wood horizontal plank runs between square-section treated posts. My new shop building, nearing completion, is much more modest, though maybe enough for me. I maxed out on the 20 sq. metres allowed when building in a National Park conservation area.

@matthewsx : Have a heart! Just maybe he was thinking about what it takes to heat a space like that.
[ I have no idea if it gets real cold (or hot) in Indiana. ]

 

[extropic]

Thanks for listening while I sort out my plans ...

No problem.

 

[matthewsx]

@rabler :
I am way impressed, and a bit envious - especially that you have a surface grinder to play with and restore. I am backed onto a farm, and I have yet to put in a ranch-style fence, the kind with a couple of treated wood horizontal plank runs between square-section treated posts. My new shop building, nearing completion, is much more modest, though maybe enough for me. I maxed out on the 20 sq. metres allowed when building in a National Park conservation area.

@matthewsx : Have a heart! Just maybe he was thinking about what it takes to heat a space like that.
[ I have no idea if it gets real cold (or hot) in Indiana. ]

It does get cold in Indiana, almost as cold as Northern Michigan where we built our shop

I heated mine with an infrared tube heater plumbed into natural gas. If you only had propane then it really comes down to how many trees are on the property. I had plans of walling off part of it to give a smaller space to heat/cool but it really wasn't necessary, the infrared heater was very efficient, only took about half an hour to go from 12° f to comfortable working temp ~45° f and it was barely noticeable on my bill for how much it was used.

I did have another building that had AC for when it got hot in the summer, suspect electricity for cooling would be more costly....

John

 

[matthewsx]

This is what it looks like now, sold it back in 2014....



John

 

[C-Bag]

Thanks for listening while I sort out my plans ...

I used to work with a guy when you were thinking out loud would always retort "are you complaining or bragging?"

 

[rabler]

Well, I'd say do the 10EE.

But, since they haven't started framing yet why not go up to 16'?

I built a 40' x 60' pole barn and had the side walls done to 16' so if I ever wanted to park a semi-trailer inside I could.

JMHO,

John

Well, I'm not doing a commercial facility! Nice shop.
I debated as low as 10 and high as 14. I also started out at 40x64x14. Budget adjustments, especially gravel fill, dropped me to 40x56x10. After pondering it I went back up to 12. My current shop is 8', with less than 7' clearance under the garage door. Which is why that one is a shop and not a garage. The woodworking and electronics stuff will stay there. It does make heating and cooling much easier to not get too tall, so I went with 12'. My flat bed gooseneck, or the 4 horse gooseneck fit nicely through a 10x10 door.

While I spent my teenage years in Duluth, Mn, and much of my working career in Savannah, Ga, I'm not a fan of climate extremes. Or maybe just getting soft as I "mature". I keep the current shop at 45F when I'm not there, and usually up to 60 when I am. After all, short sleeves are safer

The problem with the 10EE is money. Having the bed ground and doing something with the motor aren't going to be cheap. I've put in a lot of effort on using the DC motor, probably foolishly, but I'm far enough down that path that I'd have trouble not sticking it out. The apron has been rebuilt. QCGB has been gone through and fixed up. Short term, I will probably do a bit of work on scraping the compound and cross slide in to a decent fit. And it'll need a new cross slide nut for the leadscrew and possibly a whole new leadscrew. I really want to do the 10EE right.

 

[rabler]

I used to work with a guy when you were thinking out loud would always retort "are you complaining or bragging?"

Bragging. No doubt.

Life is good

 

[rabler]

I am way impressed, and a bit envious - especially that you have a surface grinder to play with and restore. I am backed onto a farm, and I have yet to put in a ranch-style fence, the kind with a couple of treated wood horizontal plank runs between square-section treated posts. My new shop building, nearing completion, is much more modest, though maybe enough for me. I maxed out on the 20 sq. metres allowed when building in a National Park conservation area.

I've been watching your building go up. Very nicely done. I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun working in there. My grandfather did a lot of really neat work in a little extension that was roughly 2m x 4m off the back of his garage.

Southern Indiana sees lows in the winter around 10F, much below that is unusual, and highs around 90. I'm quite a ways away from Michigan.